REDDIE ONESHOTS // CHARACTER

Chapter One-Hundred-Sixteen

WARNING: SPOILERS FROM IT CHAPTER TWO

...

"No! Eddie!"

"Guys! We can still help him!"

"We have to go back!"

"NO!"

Richie Tozier woke up, startled after seeing such a graphic nightmare. It had been almost eighteen days since he had lost his first love during the battle against Pennywise. He'd seen him get murdered, his blood splattering onto his glasses.

Most importantly, he had to leave his body behind. He was forced to abandon Eddie Kaspbrack's dead body. He hadn't even been able to confess his love to him and tell how much he was the only person that kept him going throughout his violent school years in Derry. Even if he had forgotten him when he had left, he still kept an inhaler in his bag at all times, not knowing why he did it.

After all, he didn't have asthma. But whenever he heard a young boy wheeze or cough for oxygen, his hand instantly reached out to his spare inhaler. When he saw his Eddie Spaghetti again, he remembered why.

He hadn't even been able to say goodbye. He had touched his corpse and begged God to bring him back. He hated the losers for not letting him take his body to at least give him a proper funeral. Eddie deserved that after years of emotional and mental torment coming from his mother and wife. He deserved everything that Richie wasn't able to give him now.

Richie sat on his bed, sobbing into his palms. At times like that, he grabbed the only thing he had left of Eddie, his inhaler. As ridiculous as it sounded, he would hug the inhaler to his chest and cradle the medication, calling Eddie's name while crying like an abandoned puppy. He promised himself that he would never find anybody to replace Eddie.

The losers couldn't do anything to help their heartbroken friend. He was too far gone and probably needed to undergo serious therapy after having such an experience.

Eddie's blood, Eddie's face, Eddie's cold, lifeless body...

That was all he could think about. ıt was like somebody was sitting on his chest and not allowing him to breathe. He couldn't wait to die just so he could see the boy he couldn't save.

When crying into his pillow, holding the inhaler tightly in his hand, he heard a small knock outside of his door. Confused as to who it was at almost 5 in the morning, Richie wiped his overflowing tears away (even if new ones started to run down his cheek as soon as he did so) and slowly walked out of his bedroom.

His apartment was usually neat and organized, but for weeks it had been downright messy and almost like a hellhole. He had dirty dishes, filth on the floor, dust everywhere, and so much more disorganization. The thought reminded him of Eddie, who, if he were alive, would scold him severely for the condition his apartment was in. The idea made him cry even more.

Once he got to the front door, he didn't both to look through the peephole. If a murderer were outside, he would gladly die without hesitation. Anything to be with Eddie.

He heard small whimpers and knocks before he opened the door, looking at his feet.

"Richie!"

It was as if time had slowed. Awake, his eyes widened as he made eye contact with the smaller man outside, who was drenched in blood and water. But even through all the layers, Richie could make out the little asthmatic boy he knew from all those years. Choking, he tried to say something but only fell down onto his knees, his jaw wide open as he stared at the boy he had thought he lost.

Eddie engulfed him into a tight hug, caressing Richie's tangled curls as he shed tears of his own. Richie was cold, but hugged him almost painfully tightly, scared that if he let the man go, he would disappear. Even if this was a dream he was seeing, he didn't care as long as he saw Eddie again in a situation where he wasn't getting murdered.

"Eddie," he sighed, crying into his neck, "I-I-I so-s-orry I-I let y-yo-u die. I-I-I couldn't s-save you." He couldn't speak without hiccuping, apologizing to the Eddie in his 'dream.'

"I didn't die, Richie. I'm here. Alive." Richie pulled back to study his face. His eyes traveled to his uninjured stomach, where he had seen Pennywise pierce his arm through.

"N-NO! You died! Your blood w-w-was o-on-" He couldn't even finish his sentence without hyperventilating, his entire body trembling. "I l-love you so much, Eds. S-So much. A-And I couldn't e-ev-even tell you."

Eddie held his face in his cold palms, ignoring what Richie said and made him look him in the eyes. He ignored the way his stomach erupted into butterflies and how heat rushed into his cheeks.

"Richie, I'm here. This isn't a dream, I promise. Let's go inside, I need to explain everything."

He helped the broken man up and lead him into the bedroom, where both sat down onto the bed. Eddie held both of Richie's hands, trying to make sure that he knew that he wasn't leaving.

"Rich, listen to me carefully, okay?" Richie nodded, sniffling as he held his hands tightly, trying to sit as close to Eddie as possible.

"After we went through the SCARY, NOT SCARY AT ALL, and whatever doors, I felt myself being pulled away from you. Just as I was taken away, I saw another Eddie replace me so quickly that you didn't even notice. You didn't hear, see, or feel me. Because you couldn't. Pennywise had to trick you with your worst fear, honey, to make you weak and unable to fight. It had to make you believe that I was dead. So it made your worst fear come true, it killed the Eddie it created right in front of your eyes. It knew about your feelings.

"When you killed it, the other Eddie also stopped responding because the one who created him was dead. I couldn't reach out to you because you wouldn't notice me. But I was right behind you as you escaped, jumped into the quarry, carved my name's first letter next to yours at the bridge..." He stopped, smiling at Richie, whose cheeks were bright red.

"I was invisible for days, until an hour ago, when suddenly, I felt someone poke me. He was a small boy, asking me what I was doing outside your apartment. That's when I knew that I was visible again. I just had to see you, so I ran here."

Richie felt alive for the first time in eighteen days. All the pain he had felt disappeared. He sobbed in relief, finally able to breathe without feeling like he was dying.

"I love you so fucking much," he said, pulling Eddie into another hug.

The smaller man sighed, hugging equally as tightly, "I love you too, Rich. I realized that when I saw you the night we reunited. I love you so much."

The two men hugged each other, stayed together until the sun rose. All pain had ended. Richie Tozier was so thankful to be alive then and there, holding his love tightly in his arms.

"We need to call the others," he whispered into Eddie's hair.

"Shh, we'll do it in the morning. Right now, I just want to be with you."

A/N Let's just pretend that IT2 ended like this because that hurt me like a buttcheek on a stick. Seriously, I can't believe that we won and actually made Reddie, a ship that none of us would've imagined to actually become canon, canon. We stay winning! Just pretend that Eddie is alive, happily married with Richie right now.